Edwin Arnold Quotes

Edwin Arnold shares lyrical, wistful musings on life's fleeting nature, a gentle read for those who love reflective poetry.

16 quotes

  1. He who died at Azan sends This to comfort all his friends:- Faithful friends! It lies I know Pale and white and cold as snow; And ye say, 'Abdallah's dead!' Weeping at the feet and head. I can see your falling tears, I can hear your sighs and prayers; Yet I smile and whisper this: I am not the thing you kiss. Cease your tears and let it lie; It was mine-it is not I.

  2. We are the voices of the wandering wind, Which moan for rest and rest can never find; Lo! as the wind is, so is mortal life, A moan, a sigh, a sob, a storm, a strife.

  3. Below the highest sphere four Regents sit Who rule our world, and under them are zones Nearer, but high, where saintliest spirits dead Wait thrice ten thousand years, then live again; And on Lord Buddha, waiting in that sky, Came for our sakes the five sure signs of birth So that the Devas knew the signs, and said 'Buddha will go again to help the World.' 'Yea!' spake He, 'now I go to help the World. This last of many times; for birth and death End hence for me and those who learn my Law. I will go down among the Sakyas, Under the southward snows of Himalay, Where pious people live and a just King.'

  4. Now, when our Lord was come to eighteen years, The King commanded that there should be built Three stately houses, one of hewn square beams With cedar lining, warm for winter days; One of veined marbles, cool for summer heat; And one of burned bricks, with blue tiles bedecked, Pleasant at seed-time, when the champaks bud-- Subha, Suramma, Ramma, were their names. Delicious gardens round about them bloomed, Streams wandered wild and musky thickets stretched, With many a bright pavilion and fair lawn In midst of which Siddartha strayed at will, Some new delight provided every hour; And happy hours he knew, for life was rich, With youthful blood at quickest; yet still came The shadows of his meditation back, As the lake's silver dulls with driving clouds.

  5. Almond blossom, sent to teach us That the spring days soon will reach us.

  6. That what will come, and must come, shall come well.

  7. Never the spirit was born; the spirit shall cease to be never; Never was time it was not; End and Beginning are dreams! Birth-less and deathless and changeless remaineth the spirit forever. Death hath not touched it all, dead though the house of it seems!

  8. Early violets blue and white Dying for their love of light.

  9. Yet who shall shut out Fate?

  10. There is no caste in blood.

  11. Like threads of silver seen through crystal beads Let love through good deeds show.

  12. Shall any gazer see with mortal eyes, Or any searcher know by mortal mind; Veil upon veil will lift but there must be Veil upon veil behind.

  13. What good I see humbly I seek to do, And live obedient to the law, in trust That what will come, and must come, shall come well.

  14. Within yourself deliverance must be searched for, because each man makes his own prison.

  15. The royal kingcup bold Dares not don his coat of gold.

  16. A little rain will fill The lily's cup which hardly moistens the field.